This invention relates to the pipe fitting arts and, more particularly, to a system for reconditioning used pipe fittings.
Pipe fittings, such as flanges, elbows, tees and the like, are used in vast quantities in such environments as refineries, chemical plants, and other industrial environments in which intricate pipe networks are found. It is characteristic of many such plants, that the pipe network is in a more or less constant state of rearrangement to make process changes, effect repairs, carry out system enlargements and so on. When it becomes necessary to remove a pipe fitting during such work, the practice is to expeditiously cut out the fitting with a torch. Such cutout fittings are routinely discarded as scrap because the edges left by the cutting process are not at all suitable for welding back up to an adjoining fitting or pipe. When new, the edges of such fittings are cleanly inwardly tapered and generally fall into a plane such that the edges may be juxtaposed with the edges of an adjoining piece in such a manner that the meeting tapers form a V-groove for receiving the weld bead.
The cost of new pipe fittings has become sufficiently high that it has been proposed to recondition the fittings on a large lathe rather than discarding them as scrap. However, the practice of reconditioning fittings on a lathe is itself a different and uneconomic procedure because of the difficult set-up necessary to handle large and very heavy fittings, the strain on the lathe employed, and the requisite use of a skilled machinist. Thus, it has generally been found that, notwithstanding the expense of new fittings, it has been cheaper and has remained the practice to discard pipe fittings rather than recondition them.
Thus, those skilled in the art and knowledgeable of the economics associated with the construction, maintenance, and revision of intricate pipe networks will understand it would be highly desirable to provide economical, yet accurate, means by which cutout pipe fittings may be reconditioned for re-use in place of corresponding new fittings.
It is therefore a broad object of my invention to provide simple means for accurately reconditioning used pipe fittings.
It is another object of my invention to provide such means which is economical to fabricate and use.
It is a still further object of my invention to provide such means which is versatile and capable of handling a large variety of fitting size and configurations.